The state of me and bits of the world, Saturday morning edition

I am stretched out on the couch, a nineteen-year-old cat snoozing at my feet and a 14-pound cat perched upon my shoulder. I think that Spanky has decided that perching on me will allow him to impart healing vibrations via purring.

Although I have full range of motion in my shoulder, my physical therapist has referred me to the UW Athletic Medicine people to try to figure out why I still have pain despite months of physical therapy. Some might speculate that allowing a 14-pound pussycat to perch upon my shoulder might be one reason why the shoulder hasn't healed. I would note that this morning is only the fourth time in six months I've allowed such behavior (and he's just climbed off of me). It's been hard to deny him the pleasure of perching since he enjoys it so much. Such are the trials of the feline life.

Photoshop class is going well. Practiced this morning in a limited way with Elements. I'm looking forward to more practice at school in the computer lab with the full program (which, it turns out, I can purchase at a significant discount with my student ID--need to decide if that would be a sensible investment).

Had an idea for a short story this morning and have already started work. First time in longer than I care to consider. But getting it done is better than not.

Made many job contacts this week. Hope one of them pans out.

Apparently our little mag 4.6 temblor the other day overloaded reporting systems here in Washington state. "...computers were apparently overloaded with data from an expanded network of seismic instruments..." says the paper.

Bus fares in King County are going up 25 cents tomorrow. That's one way to celebrate the SuperBowl, I guess.

Delighted that the president bitch-slapped the Merrill Lynch guys for giving outrageous bonuses. It's about time someone did. Glad that Senator McCaskill spoke her mind on the subject as well.

Trying to figure out why Birmingham officials find the apostrophe so hard to figure out. It's really not that difficult, nor is its use "old fashioned." At least, not if clear communication's gone out of style.

What you learn when you walk

I've been trying to walk more lately. I've even succeeded. Today's route was to follow the #13 bus route from my place to the top of Queen Anne Hill. At about a mile, it took me about 45 minutes; it's mostly up a gentle but persistent incline, a vast improvement over the mountain climb required to top the hill via Queen Anne Avenue--a vertical incline that would try the healthiest among us.

At the top of the hill, I learned that the awesomely named How To Cook A Wolf restaurant is located across the street from one of my semi-regular coffee haunts. I always wondered about it but I never noticed it there before.

I also learned that apparently the intersection of Queen Anne Avenue and Boston Street doesn't have enough coffee or tea places, even though the corners feature Starbucks, Peet's Tea and Coffee, Cafe Ladro, and The Teapot. At 4:30 today all of these places were so packed that I purchased a cup of tea at Ladro and sat in one of the Adirondack chairs on the sidewalk to drink and read my book. There's an empty store front on that corner that used to be my favorite Indian restaurant. I wonder if we're going to get yet another purveyor of caffeinated drinks there.

I also learned that the playfield on Third Ave W has a running track and is part of David Rodgers Park, though I did not learn who David Rodgers is or was.

Tonight, I'm not going to learn anything. I'm going to watch a movie.